11 May 2021 | 1100 hrs | 087/2021

The number of fi nal deeds of sale relating to residential property during April 2021 amounted to 1,130, an increase of 540 deeds when compared to those registered a year earlier. In April 2021, 1,430 promise of sale agreements relating to residential property were registered, an increase of 1,161 agreements over the same period last year.

Residential Property Transactions: April 2021

Cut-off date: Final Deeds of Sale 4 May 2021 In April 2021, the number of fi nal deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 1,130, an increase of 540 deeds when compared to those registered a year earlier (Table 1). The value of these deeds totalled €228.4 million, 91.6 per cent higher than the corresponding value recorded in April 2020 (Table 2).

With regard to the region the property is situated in, the highest numbers of fi nal deeds of sale were recorded in the two regions of Mellieħa and St Paul’s Bay, and Ħaż-Żabbar, Xgħajra, Żejtun, Birżebbuġa, and , at 150 and 143 respectively. The lowest numbers of deeds were noted in the region of Cottonera, and the region of , Ħad-, Rabat, and Mġarr. In these regions, 13 and 32 deeds respectively were recorded (Table 3).

Chart 1. Registered fi nal deeds of sale - monthly











 QXPEHURIUJLVWHUHGILQDOGHHGV 

 - )0$0- - $621' - )0$0- - $621' - )0$    SHULRG

Compiled by: Price Statistics Unit Contact us: National Statistics Offi ce, Lascaris, VLT 2000 1 T. +356 25997219, E. [email protected]

https://twitter.com/NSOMALTA/ https://www.facebook.com/nsomalta/ Promise of Sale Agreements

In April 2021, 1,430 promise of sale agreements relating to residential property were registered, an increase of 1,161 agreements over the same period last year (Table 4).

The largest numbers of promise of sale agreements corresponded to residential properties situated in the two regions of Ħaż-Żabbar, Xgħajra, Żejtun, Birżebbuġa, Marsaskala and Marsaxlokk, and , totalling 211 and 207 respectively. The lowest numbers were noted in respect of properties located in the region of Cottonera, and the region of Mdina, Ħad-Dingli, Rabat, Mtarfa and Mġarr. The first-mentioned region accounted for 15 agreements and the second for 53 (Table 5).

Table 1. Number of final deeds of sale by period of registration

Period 2018 2019 2020 2021 January 962 1,067 1,031 1,007 February 1,000 1,222 1,000 982 March 1,042 1,232 926 1,283 Q1 3,004 3,521 2,957 3,272 April 1,000 1,155 590 1,130 May 1,101 1,196 552 June 1,135 1,032 746 Q2 3,236 3,383 1,888 July 1,106 1,272 1,149 August 1,130 1,138 940 September 924 1,045 974 Q3 3,160 3,455 3,063 October 1,385 1,297 1,053 November 1,260 1,161 960 December 1,267 1,202 1,133 Q4 3,912 3,660 3,146

Total 13,312 14,019 11,054

2 Table 2. Total value of final deeds of sale by period of registration

€ millions Period 2018 2019 2020 2021 January 160.2 237.7 205.1 203.5 February 164.8 226.7 192.2 189.5 March 220.7 225.1 170.5 266.0 Q1 545.7 689.5 567.8 659.0 April 194.6 230.7 119.2 228.4 May 198.9 209.2 102.1 June 204.3 179.1 138.0 Q2 597.8 619.0 359.3 July 205.0 234.7 207.2 August 232.1 220.9 170.4 September 180.0 192.8 185.1 Q3 617.1 648.4 562.7 October 313.3 265.8 194.1 November 222.4 245.9 175.9 December 274.1 236.8 237.3 Q4 809.8 748.5 607.3

Total 2,570.4 2,705.4 2,097.1

Table 3. Number of final deeds of sale by period of registration and region

2020 2021 Region April March April

1. Cottonera 11 31 13

2. , Paola, Santa Luċija, Ħal 31 78 72

3. Ħaż-Żabbar, Xgħajra, Żejtun, Birżebbuġa, Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk 81 116 143

4. Ħal , , Ħal Għaxaq, Ħal , , , Ħal Safi, Żurrieq 42 78 83

5. Valletta, , Marsa, Ħamrun, Tal-Pietà, 30 87 53

6. Ħal , Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Siġġiewi 33 121 90

7. , Gżira, , Ta' Xbiex, San Ġwann 64 129 124

8. Pembroke, St Julian's, Tas-, , Ħal Għargħur 76 106 104

9. Ħ', Ħal , , Ħal 21 41 44

10. Mdina, Ħad-Dingli, Rabat, Mtarfa, Mġarr 16 45 32

11. , 50 103 83

12. Mellieħa, St Paul's Bay 63 164 150

13. Gozo 72 184 139

Unclassified - - -

Total 590 1,283 1,130

3 Table 4. Number of promise of sale agreements by period of registration

Period 2018 2019 2020 2021

January 972 860 754 981

February 1,221 1,112 893 1,350

March 1,447 1,196 892 1,650

Q1 3,640 3,168 2,539 3,981

April 1,310 1,155 269 1,430

May 1,422 1,145 511

June 1,164 977 961

Q2 3,896 3,277 1,741

July 1,228 950 1,366

August 1,209 883 1,074

September 1,175 855 1,053

Q3 3,612 2,688 3,493

October 1,563 974 1,301

November 1,223 796 1,044

December 1,008 711 1,145

Q4 3,794 2,481 3,490

Total 14,942 11,614 11,263

Table 5. Number of promise of sale agreements by period of registration and region

2020 2021 Region April March April

1. Cottonera 4 18 15

2. Fgura, Paola, Santa Luċija, Ħal Tarxien 15 97 91

3. Ħaż-Żabbar, Xgħajra, Żejtun, Birżebbuġa, Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk 38 209 211

4. Ħal Luqa, Gudja, Ħal Għaxaq, Ħal Kirkop, Mqabba, Qrendi, Ħal Safi, Żurrieq 27 121 102

5. Valletta, Floriana, Marsa, Ħamrun, Tal-Pietà, Santa Venera 24 90 88

6. Ħal Qormi, Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Siġġiewi 19 111 82

7. Birkirkara, Gżira, Msida, Ta' Xbiex, San Ġwann 43 165 167

8. Pembroke, St Julian's, Tas-Sliema, Swieqi, Ħal Għargħur 16 173 119

9. Ħ'Attard, Ħal Balzan, Iklin, Ħal Lija 7 87 74

10. Mdina, Ħad-Dingli, Rabat, Mtarfa, Mġarr 14 55 53

11. Mosta, Naxxar 17 119 67

12. Mellieħa, St Paul's Bay 24 188 154

13. Gozo 21 217 207

Unclassified - - -

Total 269 1,650 1,430

4 Methodological Notes

1. This news release presents data on property transactions based on final deeds of sale and promise of sale agreements (‘konvenji’) registered with the tax authority. The qualifier 'period of registration’ common to the tables refers to such registration. Basing the data on the period when the final deed of sale or promise of sale agreement is registered with the tax authority, rather than when it is signed, is considered to produce more timely information.

2. The scope of this release follows the classification of the administrative data source, and includes only those transactions classified as ‘residential’ by the source. The data presented covers the following property types: airspace, boathouse, bungalow, farmhouse, flat/apartment, garage, garden, house, maisonette, penthouse, plot of land, semi-detached villa, terraced house, ‘terran’, urban tenement, and villa.

3. Excluded are transactions classified as ‘commercial’, comprising business premises and warehouse/storeroom, and those classified as ‘other’, a category that incorporates car space, field, grave and redemption of ground rent, amongst others.

4. Therefore, deeds/agreements relating to land for residential purposes (‘plot of land’) are included, while those pertaining to land for non-residential purposes (‘field’) are not.

5. Only deeds/agreements relating to the sale of property, which also includes sale by auction (‘subasta’) and sale after assignment of rights, are considered. Therefore, cessions, donations and exchanges, amongst others, are not included.

6. In the light of notes 2, 3, 4 and 5, this release must be viewed as a sub-set of all the property transactions and activities registered with the tax authority that take place during a given period.

7. The residential property transactions considered are not limited to households, but may also involve other economic agents, including companies.

8. The regions incorporating localities in Tables 3 and 5 correspond to the location of the purchased property, not to the place of residence of the buyer or seller.

9. To achieve consistency, the methodological concepts used are aligned to the extent possible with the House Price Index concepts.

10. Users are reminded of several factors which might inhibit comparability between data on final deeds of sale and promise of sale agreements. These differences include: a) the time lag between promise of sale agreements and final deeds of sale; b) certain property being sold without a promise of sale agreement; and c) some promise of sale agreements falling through before the final contract is signed.

11. Data is provisional and subject to revisions, which may arise following updates in the source data.

12. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at: Classification of Regions based on Property Prices: https://metadata.nso.gov.mt/classificationdetails.aspx?id=Classification%20of%20Regions%20based%20on%20Pr operty%20Prices

A longer time series is available in Annexes A and B in the Excel version of news release: 069/2021.

13. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately.

14. A detailed news release calendar is available on: https://nso.gov.mt/en/News_Releases/Release_Calendar/Pages/News-Release-Calendar.aspx

5